User blog:Anonymous/Vexus (My Life as a Teenage Robot)
Vexus (formerly Queen Vexus) is the main antagonist in My Life as a Teenage Robot. She was the reigning monarch of Cluster Prime and leader of the Cluster, and is still one of XJ-9's most recurring foes. She was voiced by the late Eartha Kitt in all of her appearances except in Around the World in Eighty Pieces and as Violet and Vicky in Queen Bee where she is voiced by Cree Summer. Background A cunning and cruel robot queen, Vexus (voiced by Eartha Kitt) is bent on the enslavement of the human race. She is the main antagonist of the series. Vexus and Dr. Wakeman have been opponents for what must have been quite some time, and Vexus was likely the inspiration for Jenny's creation. XJ-9 typically can outwit and outperform Vexus, but regardless, Vexus has the resources of an entire planet to call upon. Occasionally she does gain the upper hand, typically through trickery and sabotage. She possesses the ability to transform, but typically for means of disguise, compared to the multitude of battle forms that Jenny typically uses. Her known forms are as the sneaky android, photographer in "Hostile Makeover", the robot nurse named Vee in "Tradeshow Showdown", a flirtatious teenage robot girl named "QT-2" (pronounced "Cutie 2") in "Designing Women", and even the transfer students Vicky and Violet in "Queen Bee". In Escape from Cluster Prime, it is revealed that Queen Vexus has a daughter named Vega. During the course of the movie, Queen Vexus is dethroned by Jenny and Nora Wakeman (with Sheldon's help) and Vega takes the leadership of Cluster Prime for her own. Despite fleeing from Cluster Prime, Vexus returned in the series afterward in “Trash Talk”, and in "Queen Bee", in which she donned a new look. Vexus’ Evil Plots First appearing in "Hostile Makeover", Vexus infected Jenny with a nanobot, "slowly changing her from within, into "A HIDEOUS MONSTER!" Her plan is foiled when Wakeman manages to short-circuit the infected Jenny and remove the nanobot. Vexus later showed up in "Tradeshow Showdown" where she assimilated all the robots in the convention, only for Jenny to deactivate her whole new army. Eventually, in "Designing Women", Vexus grew tired of Jenny always defeating her drones with the seemingly endless gadgets she can pull out at will. In disguise as "QT-2", Vexus coaxed Sheldon out of Jenny's master blueprints (which he originally stole to find the way to her heart). Vexus nearly had Jenny beat, now able to calculate her every move, but some quick thinking outside the box left Jenny the victor in the end. Finally, in the TV movie "Escape from Cluster Prime", Vexus attempts to bring Jenny into the Cluster on the tricentennial of Tremorton. When the fight is over, Vexus escaped via teleporter on her hovercraft. After the townsfolk shun Jenny for the damage to the town and the ruined festivities, Jenny is left to clean up the mess, and she accidentally stumbles through the Cluster portal, ending up being transported to her enemies' home planet. Completely unaware of this turn of events, Vexus finally loses patience and pulls a full-scale invasion of Earth. During Jenny's time on Cluster Prime, she realizes that Vexus has been lying to her people. There, the robot XJ-9 has been painted as the barbaric android who stole the planet's supply of golden computer chips (the part that allows their weapons systems to function), when it was really Vexus who was guilty of the crime (however, comically because of the barbaric overtones in her poster, no one on Cluster Prime even realized Jenny was XJ-9). In the end, Vexus was overthrown, and her benevolent daughter, Princess Vega, took the throne. However, Vexus appears again in "Trash Talk" and "Queen Bee", repeatedly attempting to exact her revenge of Jenny for her loss of power. However, after her exile from Cluster Prime, it seemed Vexus was clearly starting to lose her mind (e.g. she had created a spaceship for escape that could only contain a hamster). Later, Vexus returns to Tremorton and pretends to be "Violet" at Tremorton High, but Jenny was able to recognize her without having to remove her disguise. The Crust Cousins run into Vexus, and take her with them so they could teach her how to be fashionable and popular in order to humiliate Jenny. On the next day, Brit and Tiff introduce Vexus as "Vicky", and she was extremely successful in her ability to outdo Jenny in "fitting in and being popular". However, Vexus (disguised as "Vicky") was becoming even more popular than the Crust Cousins themselves, proclaiming herself the queen of Tremorton High, and reducing the Crust Cousins to nerds. She had nearly defeated Jenny by using disruptors placed around the school by Brit and Tiff. The Crusts had no other choice but to remove the devices they had planted earlier so Jenny could defeat Vexus, and they wouldn't "remain as social outcasts". Even though the students still liked Vexus after Jenny defeated her, she instantly lost her popularity when Jenny told the students that their queen was two thousand years old. Despite all of her failures, Vexus is still alive, which means that she is not officially defeated in the series. Physical Appearance Vexus' physical appearance is that of a green- and yellow-striped insectoid alien robot. She has long striped legs with high heels, a black bottom and a yellow top. She has large black arms and hands with green sleeves attached to them. Some parts of her body, like her belly and upper arms are not covered by armor, but show her black robotic body. She has a small insectoid head with long curved antennae-like features. She has long green and yellow striped “hair” that resembles the headdress of an Egyptian pharaoh, a crown-like feature with an orb on it, and clear white wings. She has long eyelashes, red lips, and sharp fangs. Following the events of "Escape from Cluster Prime", Vexus' appearance changed to a more deteriorated and damaged form. In "Trash Talk", her color pattern changed to a darker tone (matching the atmosphere of the asteroid). In "Queen Bee", Vexus somehow gained a new, slightly altered appearance. Her large antennae and sleeves were reduced in size, and the shape of her headdress changed. She also donned some sort of green corset that covered her belly, and her antennae became more aligned with the orb on her head. Personality Vexus is sneaky, conniving, and overall evil and megalomaniacal in nature. In general, Venus is very angry and xenophobic against human beings, wishing to destroy the Earth and enslave them. In addition to her enemies, she even proved herself to be deceitful toward her own people, the robot citizens of Cluster Prime. Vexus harbors a considerable hatred towards humankind, to the point of plotting to destroy all life on Earth. Vexus considers humans to be a hindrance to her goal to convince Jenny join the Cluster. She also tends to use Jenny's loved ones as hostages in order to intact her plans (such as Tuck, in Hostile Makeover). Vexus is also shown to be hypocritical and dishonest, as she and her Cluster minions insist that humans are unjustly controlling Earth's machines. However, she is a tyrant herself, using technopathy-based mind-control to force Earth’s machines to join the Cluster, willing or not, as seen in Tradeshow Showdown. Vexus is doggedly determined to accomplish her goals, even after being defeated by Jenny constantly, before and after losing her status as Queen of Cluster Prime. Vexus is extremely skilled at manipulating others, including robots, machines, aliens, and humans. She was able to exploit Sheldon’s attraction to robot girls by disguising herself as QT-2 (in Designing Women). In this form she was able to trick him and acquire Jenny's blueprints for herself in order to study Jenny’s built-in weaponry and counter her effectively. Vexus also ran a propaganda campaign on Cluster Prime to keep her subjects ignorant of her true nature, while making Jenny look like the villain (in Escape from Cluster Prime). After being overthrown and exiled from Cluster Prime for her crimes, Vexus was reduced to a madwoman living on a garbage asteroid (as seen in Trash Talk). Being 2,000 years old, Vexus' skill with human slang and relating to teenagers is a bit rusty. In an attempt to infiltrate Tremorton High in the episode Queen Bee, she dressed like a flapper and spouted all the hottest 1920s lingo like "bee's knees" and "23 skiddoo". Relationships Jenny Wakeman Jenny is Vexus' greatest enemy, and possibly equal in power. Vexus will go to great lengths to bring Jenny over to the side of the Cluster, and enslave humanity, but to no avail, since Jenny is a firm Earth defender through and through. Brad Carbunkle In "Queen Bee" she was disguised as "Vicky". Like most of the boys in school Brad was attracted to the disguise. She regards Brad as a pathetic flesh-wearer, as she hates the entire human race. Tuck Carbunkle During her first appearance in Hostile Makeover Vexus turned Jenny into a monster with her nanobot, and when Tuck and Mrs. Wakeman were trying to save her, Vexus briefly captured Tuck. Jenny saw that he was in danger (when reverted to normal), and threatened to destroy Vexus' nanobot if she harmed Tuck, so Vexus was forced to release the boy in exchange for it. Sheldon Lee In "Designing Women" Vexus disguised herself as QT-2 so she could fool Sheldon into making him love her, and distract him so she could steal Jenny's blueprints (the way to Jenny's heart). Nora Wakeman It is mentioned a few times throughout the show that Nora and Vexus had met/fought before. When Jenny was in Vexus' total control by her nanobot in Hostile Makeover, Ms. Wakeman and Tuck came to save her and revert her back to normal. In the movie Escape from Cluster Prime, Ms. Wakeman fought Vexus to save Jenny, mentioning, "It must bring back the painful memories of how I brought you down!" Vega In Escape from Cluster Prime, Vexus is shown to have some natural motherly care for her daughter, Vega, but had lied to her and kept her evil ways hidden. When Vega discovers how truly evil and tyrannical her mother is, she rebels against her, telling her mother that what she has done is wrong. Vexus becomes enraged with her daughter for betraying her, and seems to disown her. Thus, Vega is left to become the new benevolent queen of Cluster Prime while Vexus flees the planet and abandons her. Powers and abilities Vexus is a very powerful opponent that is not to be underestimated. She is intelligent, ruthless, and will use any means to get what she wants. Superhuman Strength: Vexus possesses strength that rivals Jenny’s power, hinting that she might be as strong as (if not stronger than) her. In Escape from Cluster Prime when Vexus was furious at the trouble Jenny caused on her planet by revealing her evil plot, she furiously beat Jenny, nearly destroying her, before Dr. Wakeman and Sheldon came to Jenny's aid. Technopathy: Vexus is shown to possess the ability to communicate with and control machinery and technology. This ability is shown in Tradeshow Showdown, when she manipulated and took control of all of the machines and robots at the convention and commanded them to rebel against their human creators. 'Shapeshifting: '''Vexus possesses the ability to shape and morph her body in multiple disguises as shown when she posed as a human photographer, QT-2, and Vicky. '''Flight: '''Much like Jenny, Vexus is capable of flight. Although she uses her insect-like wings instead of rocket boosters. '''Teleportation/Portal Creation: '''Vexus is able to create inter-dimensional portals that allow her to travel on and off Cluster Prime or away from her foes in the blink of an eye. '''Energy Beams: '''She can emit powerful beams of green energy from her eyes and her hands. Appearances * Hostile Makeover * Tradeshow Showdown * Around the World in Eighty Pieces * Designing Women * Toying with Jenny * Escape From Cluster Prime * No Harmony for Melody (cameo) * Trash Talk * Queen Bee Trivia * While Eartha Kitt voiced Queen Vexus for the whole show, Cree Summer took over for her in one episode (''Around the World in Eighty Pieces), and her disguises Violet and Vicky in Queen Bee, as well as QT-2 in Designing Women. ** There was another cartoon character who had to go through a similar change; Eartha Kitt was also the voice of Yzma in the Disney film The Emporer's New Groove, but due to Kitt's death, she was replaced by Candi Milo (who, ironically, also worked on My Life as a Teenage Robot). * Vexus' diva-like way of speaking and personality are seemingly inspired by her voice actress, Eartha Kitt. * Vexus' overall appearance is reminiscent of both a queen bee and an Egyptian pharaoh, symbolizing her rank as queen and ruler of the hive-like Cluster. Vexus' design may be insipired by Cleopatra VII Philopator of Egypt, the last active Ptolemaic pharaoh of Egypt. * Vexus' name is likely derived from the words "vex", which means to cause torment, worry, and distress, and "nexus", a means of connection between members of a group, due to the fact that she is the ruler of Cluster Prime who brings robots from all over the galaxy together and unites them. Her name might additionally be a loose pun on "vixen", a word used to describe a spiteful or quarrelsome woman. * Although in Escape from Cluster Prime, Vexus was overthrown and defeated, she reappeared in later episodes like Toying With Jenny and Trash Talk being assisted by certain still loyal members of the Cluster. * Although she never made a physical appearance, Vexus makes a cameo appearance in No Harmony with Melody, in Tuck’s thought bubble. * The scene where Vexus is giving the order to the corrupted robots in Tradeshow Showdown is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler commanding the Nazis; and just like him, Vexus is also an evil dictator who rules through propaganda, viewing herself to her people as the one true good being and Jenny as the true monster. Gallery Category:Blog posts Category:2000s Category:Robot Category:Western Animation Villainess